5 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR MARKETEERS

If you’ve decided to swap the edamame beans for a slice of cake and ditch your new years resolutions already, rest assured you’re not alone, in fact after 2 weeks nearly half of us have gone back on our promises to self.

But what about our work based resolutions? Well the encouraging thing is people tend to stick to these a little longer and some of the favourites may surprise you: Employees state that Learning new things (17%), setting new goals (23%) and getting noticed/getting that promotion (26%) are amongst the most popular work resolutions*.

So how does this drive behaviour for marketers? Well as Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” and it’s clear that many choose to kick off the New Year looking for a new angle on familiar challenges.

With this in mind we thought we’d share our top 5 NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS for 2016:

1. STOP MAKING ASSUMPTIONS: Especially about who is actually buying your products.

It’s easy to assume that men buy razors, and therefore that’s who we need to appeal to at the point of purchase. The truth is different, over 69% of men’s razors are purchased by women for their partners. So ask yourself, how is my brand taking this into account? And it’s not just razors, the same applies across multiple ‘masculine’ categories like Beer, Cars and Computing were women make a much greater % of the purchase decisions. It’s never been more important to ask who are we really talking too?

2. BE MORE INTIMATE: Move away from functional packaging.
Packaging is becoming more, not less, important. Brands understand the importance of a brands physical presence. With a shift from bricks and mortar to online, packaging is likely to be the first physical interaction your consumers will have with your brand, and as such it is still the most personal and intimate relationship you can have with your consumers. Does your packaging really convey your brands attitudes and values?

3. BECOME MORE “PERSONAL”:
In order to compete brands need to shift from seeing shoppers as simply mass consumers and instead treat them as individual people. In a world where marketing automation is on the rise people are looking for an antidote for the mass-produced, it’s vital brands tell a story and present a more human version of themselves to become more memorable. What personal touches are you adding and how are you showing the human side of your brand?

4. BUILD EXPERIENCE INTO EVERYTHING YOU DO:
Simply selling a product just doesn’t cut the mustard anymore; people want to share in an experience when they come into contact with your brand. And it’s no longer enough to simply reflect a particular image or lifestyle; it’s about creating a unique immersive world for your consumer. Multi sensory experiences will become the norm in 2016 with brand like Four Seasons and Virgin leading away. But it’s also possible for FMCG brands to do the same. So ask yourself, does the brand currently deliver an experience to our customers on shelf?

5. BE MORE CONVERSATIONAL:
The days of the grandiose global megastar brands with overreaching promises are firmly behind us and in its place have grown hundreds of new smaller, nimble brands, for the people by the people. These are plain speaking and honest, they’re our equals not our masters, engaging with us naturally. Is your brand on transmit or are you in dialogue with your shoppers?

Redshoeis a brand design agency that runs regular learning lunches with brand owners to help challenge the norms and bring fresh thinking to familiar marketing challenges.